Monthly Archives: October 2007

The 8th annual Steeda Stampede Event was, without a doubt, the best one yet as over 500 Ford performance vehicles converged at Steeda Autosports Pompano Beach Headquarters filling the entire Steeda campus to capacity. In addition to the vast array of Steeda Mustangs, F150s, and Focus vehicles, there were plenty of Steeda modified SVT Mustangs, Lightning and Contours, and also a collection of Steeda modified Saleen, Shelby and Roush Mustangs to round out an excellent representation of American Horsepower!

Performance enthusiasts started to arrive early Saturday from over twelve states…all to see for themselves what the Steeda Stampede is all about. The South Florida car club – Southfloridastangs.com came early and had an outstanding representation of their performance vehicles.

Once the cars were parked and the ensuing show was well underway, Steeda President, Dario Orlando led a series of campus tours including a special presentation of the new Steeda exclusive stay-bar machine which can fabricate a stay-bar with the utmost precision in the time it took you to read this paragraph! Visitors were also able to view the multi-million dollar manufacturing machinery in action, where bars of billet aluminum are magically transformed into the precision artwork – the various Steeda parts we all have come to appreciate. With “Made in the USA“ quality that Steeda is internationally noted for, the tours visually proved how the vast collection of performance parts and accessories are made under exacting conditions.

Also on display in a discrete – yet visible location for Stampede attendees was a future production Mustang that Steeda will be announcing later. With special features, both under the hood and outside the car that you have come to expect, this Mustang will surely grab your attention when we formally pull the wraps off of it for all to see.

With bargains galore in Frank’s Garage, Stampede attendees found everything from slightly used wheels/tires, to body parts, HID headlight assemblies, and other Steeda manufactured parts and accessories at special Stampede event pricing!

Bob Adams, Steeda Business Development Manager, provided an update of the current Steeda expansion in Valdosta Georgia with a depiction of the 1.2 Mile test track, skidpad, brake test area, and vehicle dynamics course. With a building projected to be larger than the ENTIRE existing Steeda five building campus, the Valdosta Project is certain to be the best and most productive automotive aftermarket campus which will result in ongoing benefits for Steeda customers in the future.

In addition, Bob also provided an in depth look at the Steeda Certified GT500 that has been receiving rave reviews by the auto critics and has also been filling the Steeda Modification Center as owners of the stock production GT500s are wanting more performance at a very reasonable price.

After the give-a-way, Dario Orlando, President of Steeda Autosports provided a glimpse of some additional future Steeda plans….plans to secret for us to include in this announcement – you had to be there to hear for yourself! Dario received a standing ovation from everyone in attendance, when he proudly announced to the crowd, that unlike some competing companies who have “broken ranks” and are now doing work for General Motors, Chrysler LLC, and even Toyota, he pledged that Steeda Autosports will only support Ford performance vehicles – just like they have proudly done exclusively for the past twenty years. He also added, that Steeda will maintain their current competitive engineering and manufacturing advantage in the marketplace and that when the Pony Wars heat up when the Camaro and Challenger are being introduced, that a Steeda Mustang will certainly be leading the charge for the Blue Oval.

A fter a short trip up Florida’s Turnpike to the Moroso Motorsports Park, Stampede enthusiasts were able to enjoy the Ford Power Festival. This annual event featured a car show where the owners of Steeda vehicles had the opportunity to have their car judged for a variety of special awards.

This year, Kristin Rogers, with her Steeda Focus 2001 – #042 won the “Steeda – Best Engineered Award” for the second consecutive year. Her wild ride has more performance equipment and custom features than any other Focus we have ever seen. Some of her equipment includes:

A really hot 1998 Steeda Mustang owned by Asa Garvin III won Top Honors for the “Steeda – Best of Show Award”. Asa is adamant that this pristine Mustang, “has saved his life” on numerous occasions thanks to it’s superior handling and braking capabilities. With an appearance that is timeless, this Steeda has virtually all of the possible Steeda upgrades one could ask for including:

Vortech Supercharger

X-Pipe

Cat-Back System

Aluminum Drive shaft

Tremec TKO-500 Transmission

Tri-Ax Shifter

Sport Springs

Caster Camber plates

Tokico adjustable shocks

Front Control Arm Bushings

Bumpsteer Kit

Ball Joint Kit

Strut Tower Brace

Tubular Front Swaybar

Aluminum Lower Control Arms

Brembo Gran Turismo Big Brake Kit

18” Ruff Racing Wheels

Nitto 555 ZR Tires 245/40 18 Front

Nitto 555 ZR Tires 285/35 18 Rear

Join us in congratulating Kristin and Asa for their terrific Steeda vehicles!

Check out more photos from this years Steeda Stampede Event by Clicking Here!

On Saturday, October 13th, the Pompano Beach Headquarters of Steeda Autosports will once again be the starting point for the annual Steeda Stampede Event. This year’s event is guaranteed to be the best ever as more cars and more enthusiasts all come together at Steeda Autosports then trek over to Moroso Motorsports Park for a weekend filled with high octane excitement that will include the roar of high performance engines, displays of cool cars, and great people!

Saturday morning activities begin with tours of the Steeda campus and tech seminars conducted by Steeda President, Dario Orlando and the world class team at Steeda Autosports. You will be able to see first hand the transformation of raw materials into precision performance parts at the site of the world’s largest Ford performance parts manufacturer – Steeda!

There will be car shows where the competition is guaranteed to be fierce for the Annual Steeda Best Engineered Award and the Steeda Best of Show Award and “Frank’s Garage” will be offering special one time only pricing on a variety of performance and take off parts and accessories. In the afternoon the Stampede will shift gears as all performance vehicles gallop to the Moroso Motorsports Park where we are guaranteed two really great days where enthusiasts will be able to drive their cars and test their skills on Moroso’s ¼ Mile Dragstrip.

The Burnett Racing Team scored yet another championship for Steeda Autosports!

The ace of the track – Robin Burnet – had another dream season in 2007 in his Steeda prepared Mustang. For the third year in a row, his beautiful red Steeda Mustang won the NASA Ohio-Indy American Iron Regional Championship leaving everyone in his dust.

In the 10 race hotly contested series, Robin showed everyone that he has the right car and the right equipment to win – and win BIG! With 6 wins, 4 second place finishes and 5 pole positions in the series, there was little doubt that his Steeda Mustang was the only one to beat this season. When the final checkered flag dropped, Robin placed his Steeda Mustang on the podium at “NASA Nationals” championship held at the legendary Mid-Ohio sports car course and ended all speculation about who was going to win the series.

What about the others? One thing for certain, they were not driving a Steeda Mustang!

Join us in congratulating Robin, his fantastic crew members, and the great team at Steeda Autosports for clinching another championship and proving that when you drive with Steeda – you are driving with a winner!

Tom Ellis is a natural born winner – especially when he is driving his Steeda prepared Mustang on the racetrack, In SCCA American Sedan Racing this season, Tom Ellis COMPLETELY DOMINATED his class this season – having the hottest shoe in the highly competitive Southeast Region.

For the third consecutive year, Tom has piloted his Steeda Mustang to the American Sedan South East Region National Championship winning an unbelievable 6 out of 7 races, and finishing a very close second in one race.

In addition to winning almost every race he entered, Tom and his Steeda prepared Mustang set two new American Sedan track records – one at the famed Daytona International Speedway and the second at the very challenging Road Atlanta race course.

It just goes to show you that when you drive a Steeda Mustang, on the race track or on the street you had better have a good set of rear view mirrors because that is where the competition will be!

Everything is right on schedule for the Summer 2008 opening of the new Steeda Autosports facility in Valdosta, Georgia. This brand new, state-of-the-art expansion of Steeda’s operations will be situated on a 35 acre campus and will consist of engineering, manufacturing, vehicle modification, and distribution facilities that will be second to no other Ford performance manufacturing company in the business – you wouldn’t expect anything else from Steeda!

Initially on this campus will be an all new 100,000 sq. ft. building that will take care of the office and manufacturing side of the business. Outdoors, to take care of the vehicle dynamic side of the business will be a comprehensive vehicle dynamic testing facility that will feature a challenging test track featuring a 1.2 mile road course, skid pad, slalom course and brake test area. The test track will have a variety of road surfaces to aid in the development and prove out process for future Steeda vehicles and parts in terms of performance, noise, vibration and harshness. The nearby drag strip, South Georgia Motorsports Park, is a new, world class facility that will be utilized for additional extensive vehicle testing and product evaluation.

In addition, this expansion provides for an exciting opportunity for Steeda Autosports to partner with Georgia Tech and Valdosta Technical Institute to take our manufacturing and engineering processes to the next level as we continually evolve and develop our products to always be the very best available.

Bottom line: This corporate expansion will deliver a win-win situation for our customers and Ford Motor Company as we will continue to be the leader in the world of high performance vehicles, parts, and accessories for Ford vehicles.

Rodney is a Mustang builder & road racer with multiple SCCA series championships, and 70-plus podium finishes. He is a Daytona International Speedway track record holder. Over 20 years of performance experience.